


Protector

by hirusen



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Arachnophobia, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fear, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, Gentleness, Holding Hands, Hugs, M/M, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 23:32:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13692144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirusen/pseuds/hirusen
Summary: How the hell these things got into the mindscape, Virgil will never know.





	Protector

Virgil had just been relaxing. He was giving Thomas a chance to relax and recollect himself after he finished up his latest project, a little proud of the human that he kept a steady pace without Virgil having to intervene too much to keep it that way. He hadn't see the other two Sides, Patton mentioning that they were heading out for a bit now that Thomas didn't have a major thing to get done. The father of the group had decided to spend a little time with Sanders, seeing as he was a little emotionally burnt out from that huge project.

 _Stupid boy, working himself ragged like that._ He was surprised the others didn't say anything about it, as they all tried to keep Thomas with a healthy headspace and mental state; having worked himself until the night almost bled into the day wasn't something the others would've wanted. Perhaps they were just excited about the project? Or, it could be because they were all still shaken up from what happened only a couple of weeks ago? Virgil shoved that train of thought out of his head, not wanting to head down that rabbit hole without one of the others to pull him out of it.

He closed his eyes and let the music he was listening to flow through his mind, letting it almost become background noise as he let his mind drift. He didn't try think about anything, just seeing where his thoughts would take him. Roman said that doing that helped him create new ideas and Logan, too, was fond of just letting his mind drift, finding it to be a good method to clear out excess thoughts from his head.  _Hm...maybe Princey was right. Maybe I sho--_

Blood curdling screams reached his ears. He ripped his headphones off and rushed out of his room, heading downstairs where the sound came from, his heart racing; Patton and Thomas were the only ones downstairs. "Thomas?! Patton?!" He called as he reached the top of the stairs. "Virgil!" That was Thomas and Anxiety felt as an attack slammed into the human, his own starting to creep up from hearing the pure distress in Thomas's voice. His footfall was almost thunderous as he descended, his eyes snapping to the couch once he could see it.

There was Thomas and Patton, holding each other tightly, fear deep in their eyes, locked on something Virgil was heading for. "What's wrong?!" He rushed over to the duo, his hands on each of their shoulders, trying to calm them. Patton, shaking, pointed behind him and Virgil took a deep breath; he didn't see any thing that was a threat when he came down, but that could have just been an oversight on his part since he wanted to make sure they weren't hurt. Slowly glancing over his shoulder, he spotted what had them so scared and groaned.

"Are you fu... Really?!" Virgil barked softly as his hand met his face. He glanced to the duo from the corner of his eye and sighed, standing up. "I'm going to need one of you to open the front door in a minute." Virgil calmly spoke, walking over to the area where Roman appeared when summoned and leaned over the TV. Carefully, he nudged the spider to crawl into his hand. "Come on little guy. There we go." He placed his hand over the one that held the spider and turned, jutting his chin towards the door; Thomas was the one who got up and lead Virgil to the door, quickly opening it up and running back to Patton.

"There you go. Go on." He knelt down and removed his hand, tilting the one with the spider up until it crawled out of his hand, Virgil closing the door, but not fully shutting it. "Did you guys see anymore of them?" Patton nodded, pointing to both the kitchen and the wall behind the sofa. "Let me get that one first; can you two please move the couch?" They hesitated. "It's alright, I won't let it near you." After a moment, they nodded their heads, cautiously getting off the couch before slowly pulling it forward enough for Virgil to slip behind it.

Judging by his yelp, the spider was closer to Patton's side. "Go stand on the stairs; let me know if you see any more of them while I get theses ones." They nodded, huddling up on his normal spot, holding each others hands as they shook lightly. Ah, damn. Looks like he's gonna end up binging on cartoons for a while after he calms them down; spiders first, though. Walking over he saw the spider, quickly telling that this one wasn't going to be as co-operative as the last one, most likely going to be moving faster too. His hands in front of himself, Thomas and Patton watched as Virgil lunged, his hands connecting with the wall, hopefully over the spider.

As he thought, this one was quick, but not fast enough, Virgil feeling as it skittered over the palms of his hands and his fingers, finally settling on his right hand. "And..." He snapped his hands together in case the little creature wanted to try and get away, making sure he didn't crush it as he walked to the door and nudged it open with his foot, walking out a bit further than he had with the first one before releasing it. "Do you two remember where in the kitchen you saw it?" "I-I just saw it moving on the counter." Thomas shakily spoke, his shoulders lowering a little with the gentle look Virgil was giving him.

"Oh. Hello." Virgil didn't have to search too hard to find it, though he didn't like that it was poised to strike. Something got it irritated, which was never a good thing. "Hey buddy. I'm not gonna hurt you." Virgil hushed, knowing that it didn't understand him, but he was saying this to try and help the duo cowering in his normal spot calm down by letting them know that he was calm; he felt as some of Thomas's anxiety eased up, which was going to make things easier in a few moments. But, angry spider was first. He set his hand down, palm up, in front of the creature, not doing anything else for a full minute. He was letting it know he was there, but nothing else.

Carefully, he reached his other hand behind it and tenderly tapped on its legs; it reacted by rushing onto his hand, still ready to sink its fangs into him, which he was a little nervous that it might do. Sluggishly, he turned and started to make his way out of the kitchen. "Please, don't bite me. I'm just letting you go back outside. No tasty treats for you in here." Anxiety spoke, a little stunned when the spider lowered its posture at his words, almost eagerly leaving his hand when he walked outside. "Anymore?" He asked while he was still by the door, seeing as Patton shook his head, finally closing it.

Virgil shoved the couch back against the wall and turned, arms open, and got nearly slammed into the sofa as Thomas and Patton stormed into his waiting embrace. "Sh, sh, sh. It's alright. They're gone, I'm here, you're both safe." Thomas nodded with a whimper, Patton trying not to cry at the moment, fear buried deep in his eyes. "Why don't we head up to Thomas's room? Maybe watch some cartoons?" They nodded, each taking one of Virgil's hands and willingly got tugged way from the area that was causing all of this distress and up towards the man's room.

Once inside, Virgil stripped out of his purple patch jacket, slipping it onto Thomas before he took him to his bed, toeing off his shoes and letting his human swarm his personal space, his head nuzzled under his chin as he laid down. Grabbing the remote, Virgil turned on Thomas's TV, flipping to whatever channel had toons playing before motioning Patton to join them. He swallowed up Anxiety's right side, Thomas on his left since he could relax better when listening to the sound of a heartbeat. "I'm proud of you two." Virgil cooed, planting a warm kiss to both of their foreheads. "You both did good. And, yes, I would have liked it if one of you just came and got me, but still, progress is progress."

In the past when spiders had gotten into Thomas's mindscape, they would just freeze up, unable to say anything, just stare at the spider until one of the other Sides came and took care of it; Roman tended to kill them while Logan used a glass and piece of thin cardboard to remove them. Virgil was the only one who ever touched spiders with his hands and he did it for a reason: to show them that as long as they are calm, spiders are no threat to them. But, like he said, having them just scream to get his attention since Logan and Roman were out at the moment was a step forward.

Virgil wrapped his arms around Patton's shoulders, knowing he tended to keep his hands closer to his face when he was scared, taking one of them in his own; his other arm was around Thomas's waist, holding him tight against his body as he took his hand, lacing their fingers together to help him feel more secure. "...Thank you, Virgil. I--" "It's okay, Dad. Everyone's afraid of something. And sometimes, we can't face that fear alone; but you're never alone. Either of you. You will always have me by your side...whether you want me there or not." Thomas smiled into his shirt, Patton lightly chuckling at cuddling a little closer. "Now hush, both of you: you're missing your show."


End file.
